It was over when the liar in chief waved his mission accomplished banner in 2003. All that remained was rape, theft, and a zionist-inspired occupation.

Unfortunately, rape is one of those heinous crimes committed in just about every culture. But, it takes special conditions - the kind created by a brutal and illegal occupation - for the crime to reach such gruesome and horrific proportions:

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) -- A U.S. soldier broke down in tears in court as he described his role in the gang rape and slaying of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family last year.

Paul E. Cortez, 24, wept Wednesday as he became the second U.S. soldier to plead guilty to charges in a case considered among the worst atrocities by U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

By pleading guilty to rape and four counts of felony murder, Cortez was spared the possibility of a death sentence and must testify against the three other soldiers charged in the case.

Under the agreement, Cortez will be sentenced to up to life in prison, plus reduction in rank and a dishonorable discharge. Whether he is eligible for parole will be decided at sentencing Thursday.

He said Wednesday he raped 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi in her family's home in Mahmoudiya last March, and that Spc. James Barker, 24, held her down.

"I lifted up her skirt and took off her stockings while Barker held her hands with his knees," he said before admitting that he raped the teenager as she screamed. "After I was done, myself and Barker switched spots."

Cortez offered no explanation for his involvement in the rape and murders, only saying that his intent was to rape the girl. The killing of the family was originally reported to be the work of insurgents.

Another soldier, former Pfc. Steven D. Green, shot the girl's father, mother and younger sister in the bedroom, Cortez said. Green raped the girl in front of Cortez and then shot her multiple times in the head, he said.

Cortez also testified that the soldiers attempted to burn the girl's body, burned their clothes and threw the murder weapon, an AK-47, into a canal in an attempt to get rid of evidence.

Later Wednesday, Cortez was found not guilty of more serious charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy to premeditated murder after prosecutors failed to convince a judge that Cortez knew of what they said was Green's intent to murder the whole family.

Pfc. Jesse Spielman, 22, and Pfc. Bryan Howard, 19, await courts-martial in the case and Green, who was discharged from the military before being charged, will be prosecuted in a federal court. Barker pleaded guilty in November to rape and murder and was sentenced to 90 years in military prison.

Cortez showed little emotion during the rest of the trial and kept his eyes down unless addressing the judge or talking with his attorneys.

He didn't look up when another soldier, Spc. Christopher Till, testified that Cortez told him about the killings in June.

"He seemed very remorseful," Till said.

(Corrects earlier version to say that the expected sentence to up to life in prison, insted life in prison. )

As far as I'm concerned, these 'men', if that's what you want to call them, deserve NO MERCY WHATSOEVER - just as they showed no mercy to that poor girl and her family.

On second thought, I take that back - the only merciful thing to do for these men is to end their lives - their humanity is already dead.

Raping a girl or a woman is bad enough - but to 'finish her off' in cold blood, along with the rest of her family, is something that only foreign occupiers - plunderers - are adept at doing.

This illegal occupation MUST end.

And it will end - one way or another, Americans will leave - face forward, or face down.

There is nothing for US in Iraq - the war is over and America has lost.

Riverbend sums it up:

[A]s the situation continues to deteriorate both for Iraqis inside and outside of Iraq, and for Americans inside Iraq, Americans in America are still debating on the state of the war and occupation - are they winning or losing? Is it better or worse.

Let me clear it up for any moron with lingering doubts: It’s worse. It’s over. You lost.

You lost the day your tanks rolled into Baghdad to the cheers of your imported, American-trained monkeys.

You lost every single family whose home your soldiers violated.

You lost every sane, red-blooded Iraqi [yes, Iraqis are red-blooded, too] when the Abu Ghraib pictures came out and verified your atrocities behind prison walls as well as the ones we see in our streets.

You lost when you brought murderers, looters, gangsters and militia heads to power and hailed them as Iraq’s first democratic government.

You lost when a gruesome execution was dubbed your biggest accomplishment.

You lost the respect and reputation you once had.

You lost more than 3000 troops.

That is what you lost America. I hope the oil, at least, made it worthwhile.

Posted in

• crimes against humanity
• criminal justice
• iraq
• israel and oil
• Occupation
• rape
• war crimes

Submitted by qrswave on Fri, 2007-02-23 15:43.

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